Ann Mack , Director of Trendspotting for JWT, shares details on some of the key trends that brands will need to understand in the years ahead. By outlining changes in the global zeitgeist, Ann will explore what’s driving them and detail how they’re beginning to play out both in society and in social media. This presentation hopes to inspire you to consider how to convert these shifts into compelling opportunities. summary of tweets: Conferences & Events 2012 trends Ann Mack JWT social media Social Media Week MORE

In this age of inbound marketing, content is king. And all content, regardless of format—text, video, audio, presentation—begins with the written word. The ability to arrange words and phrases in ways that capture interest and compel action is a skill at a premium. But good writing isn’t easy. As Eric Siu noted recently in Is Blogging Dying? How does the pattern work? made that number up. MORE

About 15 years ago the CEO of the company where I worked decided that it was important that employees should learn to use the technology they were writing about. He asked my business unit to build a computer lab that employees could use at any time to play and experiment. There was even a NeXT machine. The lab was christened with fanfare and highlighted in the company newsletter. Factory Thought. MORE

A wide variety of online payment systems for eCommerce webstores is difficult to grasp – so many options yet one common goal to carry out an online transaction electronically. Which on-line payment systems are the most popular? Which purposes do they serve? What is the best to choose for an average eCommerce web-store? Widely accepted as a third party payment provider. Business MORE

A colleague of mine recently introduced me to a marketing tool to engage with mobile customers and prospects. It’s called the SnapTag , powered by SpyderLynk. With the rise of mobile smart phones usage, readable codes have gained popularity among marketers as a unique way to engage with customers and prospects. They ‘re mostly random dots, squares, or other shapes. MORE

SEO remains the most cost-effective way to drive website traffic. B2B websites often receive anywhere from 30%-60% from organic search, with 50% or more sometimes coming from Google alone. But SEO is changing. Directory links are worth less, social links worth more, site performance is increasing in importance, site age is decreasing…how is a digital marketer to keep up? Example: “2.) MORE

Lead nurturing plays an important role in industrial lead generation programs because it is rare that an industrial sale is completed on the first call or the first visit to the manufacturer’s website. Forrester, CSO Insights and Marketo reported that lead nurturing produced much better results. Here are some of the significant findings from their research studies: Reduced the number of marketing-generated leads ignored by sales to as low as 25%. Raised win rates on marketing-generated leads by 7% and reduced “no decisions” by 6%. Still not convinced? Some refer to this as “drip marketing.”. MORE

When Forbes magazine interviewed me about what salespeople should never do, the five "no-nos" below immediately popped into my mind. But it was so fun thinking about them that I decided to run a NEVER-EVER contest. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other's mistakes. Post your "salespeople should never" advice in the comments section. And make sure you read my thoughts too! _. MORE

The problem with most social media marketing agencies is that we’re fickle. We tend to keep rushing into the future, adopting anything and everything hot and new and throwing the way the rest. When it comes to online forums, I believe the baby has been thrown away with the bath water. But isn’t any kind of money good? How do I know this? MORE

I am guilty as many people are of neglecting LinkedIn. Its lack of back and forth and snarky cartoons make it my 3rd favorite social media platform. Whereas Facebook and Twitter live on my desktop, iPad and phone poor little LinkedIn only gets pulled up when I actually "need" information! It is the reference desk of social media. MORE

Social networking is as old as humanity, and even the term social media has been around for quite a while. But as a function within marketing, social media management is only 3 years old at best for the majority of organizations. Despite all this, many B2B marketing organizations are seeing huge growth in the number of channels their business is demanding. So what’s a marketer to do? MORE

Over the past few years I have had the pleasure to get to know many of the great marketing bloggers I admire so much. And it is amazing how similar we are. We seem to thrive on the relentless pace and challenge of producing consistently great content. Most bloggers do the work out of love, passion, and a drive to make a difference … not for money. You did. Thank you.” MORE

In his weekly B2B marketing show, Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers shares an important marketing lesson using wit and humor. Jeff Ogden is the President of the B2B demand generation and global marketing company Find New Customers. He’s also the host of Mad Marketing TV on YouTube. Marketing Laugh and Learn management-best-practices marketing-campaigns MORE

Lead generation and demand generation, although related, are at odds with each other. When many B2B marketers say demand generation, they mean lead generation, and the program will be measured on leads and the value of those leads. The problem is, one is focused on changing the audience’s perspective, the other is focused on capturing their information. MORE

The transformational trend of social business is disrupting and revolutionizing large and small businesses alike as the world becomes increasingly more interconnected, rewired and reoriented by social technology. Businesses are in the midst of fundamental changes that will neither reverse for stragglers nor offer them mulligans. What Does Social Business Really Mean? Reason for Social Business? MORE

Hopefully you have already joined groups on LinkedIn that are relevant to you and your business interests. After a few weeks of receiving notices of new discussions for the different organizations, you may decide that some of the groups are more a source of SPAM than viable and valuable information, and choosing to leave a few groups is perfectly normal. Benefits to Joining in Group Discussions. MORE

The latest #B2Bchat discussion focused on the relationship (or lack thereof) between corporate websites and demand generation. Can corporate websites support demand generation and lead capture? Or do marketers need to build microsites to support demand generation effectively? As always, there were some great insights shared during the chat. Here are my key takeaways from the discussion. MORE

The digital media landscape is changing rapidly. Once, most advertising was purchased directly from publishers. Today, increasingly, advertisers and agencies are purchasing media in real time auctions, impression by impression. To put this into context, AT&T purchased 105 billion impressions in 2011, according to research from ComScore. Purchased through modern media platforms, that would require winning 105 billion auctions, and participating in far more. In reality, the change is far bigger. In business, big data means far more than that. Every sale. Every customer touchpoint. MORE

We can talk about integrated marketing, social media and content marketing till the cows come home. It doesn’t mean a hill of beans. What marketing is really all about, boiled down to its very essence is this: Earn the Trust of Prospective Buyers. That’s right – it’s all about trust. believe when we embrace the need to earn trust, we can re-think how we do marketing in the first place. MORE

By Stanford Smith, Contributing {grow} Columnist. It starts as an uneasy feeling when you look at your social media stats. Poring through the numbers you realize that traffic to your blog is stuck at average barely moving 10% in any direction. Your Twitter following is methodically growing by 2-3 spam bots a day. The only way to juice your Facebook following is by paying.50 a fan. What Happened? MORE

Why Customer Insight is King in B2B Marketing. The starting point for almost all B2B marketing initiatives involves gaining insight about the customer through surveys. Marketri clients are typically surprised when they get the survey results. What they thought was critical to their customers is oftentimes a “price to play” or simply not that important. How to Survey? What to Ask? MORE

Google Plus (Google+, G+) — what it is and how to use, as well as Google’s recent change to their privacy policy, with co-host Dave Peckens. Show notes. Here are the links we discussed in the podcast: Google+ Pages for Business. The Pros & Cons of Google+ for Small Business (Mashable). Search, plus Your World (Google blog). Google+ Tricks That I Know and You Don’t (unbounce). MORE

The Furrow Magazine from John Deere – 1931. Content marketing is not easy. Over the past twelve months, we’ve been noticing a few differences in what separates those organizations who excel at content marketing and those organizations that are just staying in the game. The overview below (part 1) is from a presentation I gave at Online Marketing Summit 2012. Barriers to Entry Are Gone. MORE

In part one of this series – The History of Content Marketing – we covered how the barriers to entry for brands becoming media companies have fallen, and now the differences are all but gone. But don’t start the party just yet. Good to Great Content Marketing. So, what separates the good from the great when it comes to content marketing? The Focused, Educational Content Platform. MORE

CMOs feel largely unprepared for the challenges of today’s marketing challenges when it comes to the changing buyer, the corporate pressures to contribute and the skills and tools they have to work with. And yet much of the B2B Marketing conversation is still on generating leads. This is why I believe we have a leadership gap in B2B Marketing today. Change is coming to B2B Marketing. MORE

Image via Wikipedia. The good news is that CMO tenure continues to rise. Spencer Stuart, the executive search consulting firm, in their study released early last year reported that average tenure rose to 42 months. Up from 35 months two years ago and up from 27 months in 2007. The bad news is that the CMO position still churns and remains one of the riskiest positions in corporate business. MORE

It won’t be long before self-publishing as a concept is dead. That’s not to say that the activity of publishing, whether it’s done by an individual, a small loose-knit group, or a corporation, is in decline. In fact, it’s healthier and growing faster than ever. These distinctions were once a reliable measure of quality. But the rise of self-publishing has complicated the equation. MORE

Social data is becoming increasingly important in the new product development processes of many companies. In particular, manufacturers are tapping into social conversations as they explore new product ideas in order to learn what consumers are interested in and talking about. Later, when launch is imminent, social channels are becoming a key factor in setting media and advertising strategies. MORE

Mark Schaefer of {grow} is already one of our favorite bloggers. So when he started a movement for Valentine's Day called " Have you hugged your blogger today? " we couldn't help but jump on the love train. Here are some of our favorite bloggers - who are yours? Wendy. Some of my favorites writers write about writing. Jonathan Fields -. New Hampshire Writers' Network. Jamie. MORE

What emotions are people seeking to satisfy online? What can we understand about human motivations and values in order for content marketing to work? Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs tells us we are motivated to satisfy our basic needs first (food, shelter, clothing), before we seek to obtain satisfaction for social, intellectual and spiritual needs. They make decisions based on feelings. MORE

by Gaea Connary | Tweet this Goals are personal. As marketers we all have different ideas of what we need to accomplish. But when charting out gaps and room for improvement, it’s nice to know what your peers are most concerned about. If you put improving how you manage your contacts or measure marketing effectiveness among your top goals for this year, don’ worry. MORE

I cannot wait to redo the home page of Find New Customers – simple, few words and a clear call to action. It will be beautiful too, just like CopyBlogger. But I cannot wait for the professional to finish, so I did what I could and took pruning shears to Find New Customers. What do you think? Are the changes good or did I prune too deeply? After (28 Words). Find New Customers helps companies rapidly grow revenue by transforming how they attract, engage and win new customers. Grab our awesome free white paper, How to Find New Customers! Before (550 words). Please give us more of them.” MORE

Business-to-business (B2B) companies are starting to embrace social media to a greater extent these days. According to a report by Forrester , roughly 81 percent of B2B companies reported that they used social media in 2011. The increased adoption of social media among B2B companies indicates that companies are finding more value out of ramping up their social presence online. MORE

Do you feel like you woke up a week ago and Pinterest had taken over the world? I read on Twitter (so it is true, of course) that Pinterest is now bigger than Google, will be running for President of the United States, and is recording an album of Justin Bieber cover songs. The meteoric success of Pinterest has shocked everyone. Except me. have it all figured out. But then something happened. MORE

A client asks: “If we’re planning on using a particular white paper as part of a lead generation campaign, or even for lead nurturing , is it a good idea to remove that same content asset from our main Website? I’m concerned about people bypassing the campaign and just downloading the paper from our site.”. My response: The short answer to your question is: “no,” but let me expand a little. MORE

Lead generation and demand generation, although related, are at odds with each other. When many B2B marketers say demand generation, they mean lead generation, and the program will be measured on leads and the value of those leads. The problem is, one is focused on changing the audience’s perspective, the other is focused on capturing their information.

A colleague of mine recently introduced me to a marketing tool to engage with mobile customers and prospects. It’s called the SnapTag , powered by SpyderLynk. With the rise of mobile smart phones usage, readable codes have gained popularity among marketers as a unique way to engage with customers and prospects. They ‘re mostly random dots, squares, or other shapes.

Image via Wikipedia. The good news is that CMO tenure continues to rise. Spencer Stuart, the executive search consulting firm, in their study released early last year reported that average tenure rose to 42 months. Up from 35 months two years ago and up from 27 months in 2007. The bad news is that the CMO position still churns and remains one of the riskiest positions in corporate business.

Social data is becoming increasingly important in the new product development processes of many companies. In particular, manufacturers are tapping into social conversations as they explore new product ideas in order to learn what consumers are interested in and talking about. Later, when launch is imminent, social channels are becoming a key factor in setting media and advertising strategies.

It won’t be long before self-publishing as a concept is dead. That’s not to say that the activity of publishing, whether it’s done by an individual, a small loose-knit group, or a corporation, is in decline. In fact, it’s healthier and growing faster than ever. These distinctions were once a reliable measure of quality. But the rise of self-publishing has complicated the equation.

Do you feel like you woke up a week ago and Pinterest had taken over the world? I read on Twitter (so it is true, of course) that Pinterest is now bigger than Google, will be running for President of the United States, and is recording an album of Justin Bieber cover songs. The meteoric success of Pinterest has shocked everyone. Except me. have it all figured out. But then something happened.

SEO remains the most cost-effective way to drive website traffic. B2B websites often receive anywhere from 30%-60% from organic search, with 50% or more sometimes coming from Google alone. But SEO is changing. Directory links are worth less, social links worth more, site performance is increasing in importance, site age is decreasing…how is a digital marketer to keep up? Example: “2.)

Social networking is as old as humanity, and even the term social media has been around for quite a while. But as a function within marketing, social media management is only 3 years old at best for the majority of organizations. Despite all this, many B2B marketing organizations are seeing huge growth in the number of channels their business is demanding. So what’s a marketer to do?

About 15 years ago the CEO of the company where I worked decided that it was important that employees should learn to use the technology they were writing about. He asked my business unit to build a computer lab that employees could use at any time to play and experiment. There was even a NeXT machine. The lab was christened with fanfare and highlighted in the company newsletter. Factory Thought.

Google Plus (Google+, G+) — what it is and how to use, as well as Google’s recent change to their privacy policy, with co-host Dave Peckens. Show notes. Here are the links we discussed in the podcast: Google+ Pages for Business. The Pros & Cons of Google+ for Small Business (Mashable). Search, plus Your World (Google blog). Google+ Tricks That I Know and You Don’t (unbounce).

25 B2B marketing thought leaders answer the question "What do you expect to B2B marketers to be doing more of or differently in 2016?" The results are amazing insights around content marketing, achieving business results, alignment, employee advocacy, new technologies, customer experience and more.

The transformational trend of social business is disrupting and revolutionizing large and small businesses alike as the world becomes increasingly more interconnected, rewired and reoriented by social technology. Businesses are in the midst of fundamental changes that will neither reverse for stragglers nor offer them mulligans. What Does Social Business Really Mean? Reason for Social Business?

Social data is becoming increasingly important in the new product development processes of many companies. In particular, manufacturers are tapping into social conversations as they explore new product ideas in order to learn what consumers are interested in and talking about. Later, when launch is imminent, social channels are becoming a key factor in setting media and advertising strategies.

It won’t be long before self-publishing as a concept is dead. That’s not to say that the activity of publishing, whether it’s done by an individual, a small loose-knit group, or a corporation, is in decline. In fact, it’s healthier and growing faster than ever. These distinctions were once a reliable measure of quality. But the rise of self-publishing has complicated the equation.

Do you feel like you woke up a week ago and Pinterest had taken over the world? I read on Twitter (so it is true, of course) that Pinterest is now bigger than Google, will be running for President of the United States, and is recording an album of Justin Bieber cover songs. The meteoric success of Pinterest has shocked everyone. Except me. have it all figured out. But then something happened.

A client asks: “If we’re planning on using a particular white paper as part of a lead generation campaign, or even for lead nurturing , is it a good idea to remove that same content asset from our main Website? I’m concerned about people bypassing the campaign and just downloading the paper from our site.”. My response: The short answer to your question is: “no,” but let me expand a little.

CMOs feel largely unprepared for the challenges of today’s marketing challenges when it comes to the changing buyer, the corporate pressures to contribute and the skills and tools they have to work with. And yet much of the B2B Marketing conversation is still on generating leads. This is why I believe we have a leadership gap in B2B Marketing today. Change is coming to B2B Marketing.

by Gaea Connary | Tweet this Goals are personal. As marketers we all have different ideas of what we need to accomplish. But when charting out gaps and room for improvement, it’s nice to know what your peers are most concerned about. If you put improving how you manage your contacts or measure marketing effectiveness among your top goals for this year, don’ worry.

What emotions are people seeking to satisfy online? What can we understand about human motivations and values in order for content marketing to work? Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs tells us we are motivated to satisfy our basic needs first (food, shelter, clothing), before we seek to obtain satisfaction for social, intellectual and spiritual needs. They make decisions based on feelings.

In this age of inbound marketing, content is king. And all content, regardless of format—text, video, audio, presentation—begins with the written word. The ability to arrange words and phrases in ways that capture interest and compel action is a skill at a premium. But good writing isn’t easy. As Eric Siu noted recently in Is Blogging Dying? How does the pattern work? made that number up.

Business-to-business (B2B) companies are starting to embrace social media to a greater extent these days. According to a report by Forrester , roughly 81 percent of B2B companies reported that they used social media in 2011. The increased adoption of social media among B2B companies indicates that companies are finding more value out of ramping up their social presence online.

In part one of this series – The History of Content Marketing – we covered how the barriers to entry for brands becoming media companies have fallen, and now the differences are all but gone. But don’t start the party just yet. Good to Great Content Marketing. So, what separates the good from the great when it comes to content marketing? The Focused, Educational Content Platform.

By Stanford Smith, Contributing {grow} Columnist. It starts as an uneasy feeling when you look at your social media stats. Poring through the numbers you realize that traffic to your blog is stuck at average barely moving 10% in any direction. Your Twitter following is methodically growing by 2-3 spam bots a day. The only way to juice your Facebook following is by paying.50 a fan. What Happened?

The latest #B2Bchat discussion focused on the relationship (or lack thereof) between corporate websites and demand generation. Can corporate websites support demand generation and lead capture? Or do marketers need to build microsites to support demand generation effectively? As always, there were some great insights shared during the chat. Here are my key takeaways from the discussion.

I am guilty as many people are of neglecting LinkedIn. Its lack of back and forth and snarky cartoons make it my 3rd favorite social media platform. Whereas Facebook and Twitter live on my desktop, iPad and phone poor little LinkedIn only gets pulled up when I actually "need" information! It is the reference desk of social media.

A wide variety of online payment systems for eCommerce webstores is difficult to grasp – so many options yet one common goal to carry out an online transaction electronically. Which on-line payment systems are the most popular? Which purposes do they serve? What is the best to choose for an average eCommerce web-store? Widely accepted as a third party payment provider. Business

Lead nurturing plays an important role in industrial lead generation programs because it is rare that an industrial sale is completed on the first call or the first visit to the manufacturer’s website. Forrester, CSO Insights and Marketo reported that lead nurturing produced much better results. Here are some of the significant findings from their research studies: Reduced the number of marketing-generated leads ignored by sales to as low as 25%. Raised win rates on marketing-generated leads by 7% and reduced “no decisions” by 6%. Still not convinced? Some refer to this as “drip marketing.”.

The digital media landscape is changing rapidly. Once, most advertising was purchased directly from publishers. Today, increasingly, advertisers and agencies are purchasing media in real time auctions, impression by impression. To put this into context, AT&T purchased 105 billion impressions in 2011, according to research from ComScore. Purchased through modern media platforms, that would require winning 105 billion auctions, and participating in far more. In reality, the change is far bigger. In business, big data means far more than that. Every sale. Every customer touchpoint.

In his weekly B2B marketing show, Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers shares an important marketing lesson using wit and humor. Jeff Ogden is the President of the B2B demand generation and global marketing company Find New Customers. He’s also the host of Mad Marketing TV on YouTube. Marketing Laugh and Learn management-best-practices marketing-campaigns

I cannot wait to redo the home page of Find New Customers – simple, few words and a clear call to action. It will be beautiful too, just like CopyBlogger. But I cannot wait for the professional to finish, so I did what I could and took pruning shears to Find New Customers. What do you think? Are the changes good or did I prune too deeply? After (28 Words). Find New Customers helps companies rapidly grow revenue by transforming how they attract, engage and win new customers. Grab our awesome free white paper, How to Find New Customers! Before (550 words). Please give us more of them.”

When Forbes magazine interviewed me about what salespeople should never do, the five "no-nos" below immediately popped into my mind. But it was so fun thinking about them that I decided to run a NEVER-EVER contest. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other's mistakes. Post your "salespeople should never" advice in the comments section. And make sure you read my thoughts too! _.

Mark Schaefer of {grow} is already one of our favorite bloggers. So when he started a movement for Valentine's Day called " Have you hugged your blogger today? " we couldn't help but jump on the love train. Here are some of our favorite bloggers - who are yours? Wendy. Some of my favorites writers write about writing. Jonathan Fields -. New Hampshire Writers' Network. Jamie.

Over the past few years I have had the pleasure to get to know many of the great marketing bloggers I admire so much. And it is amazing how similar we are. We seem to thrive on the relentless pace and challenge of producing consistently great content. Most bloggers do the work out of love, passion, and a drive to make a difference … not for money. You did. Thank you.”

We can talk about integrated marketing, social media and content marketing till the cows come home. It doesn’t mean a hill of beans. What marketing is really all about, boiled down to its very essence is this: Earn the Trust of Prospective Buyers. That’s right – it’s all about trust. believe when we embrace the need to earn trust, we can re-think how we do marketing in the first place.

Hopefully you have already joined groups on LinkedIn that are relevant to you and your business interests. After a few weeks of receiving notices of new discussions for the different organizations, you may decide that some of the groups are more a source of SPAM than viable and valuable information, and choosing to leave a few groups is perfectly normal. Benefits to Joining in Group Discussions.

Ann Mack , Director of Trendspotting for JWT, shares details on some of the key trends that brands will need to understand in the years ahead. By outlining changes in the global zeitgeist, Ann will explore what’s driving them and detail how they’re beginning to play out both in society and in social media. This presentation hopes to inspire you to consider how to convert these shifts into compelling opportunities. summary of tweets: Conferences & Events 2012 trends Ann Mack JWT social media Social Media Week

Why Customer Insight is King in B2B Marketing. The starting point for almost all B2B marketing initiatives involves gaining insight about the customer through surveys. Marketri clients are typically surprised when they get the survey results. What they thought was critical to their customers is oftentimes a “price to play” or simply not that important. How to Survey? What to Ask?

The Furrow Magazine from John Deere – 1931. Content marketing is not easy. Over the past twelve months, we’ve been noticing a few differences in what separates those organizations who excel at content marketing and those organizations that are just staying in the game. The overview below (part 1) is from a presentation I gave at Online Marketing Summit 2012. Barriers to Entry Are Gone.

The problem with most social media marketing agencies is that we’re fickle. We tend to keep rushing into the future, adopting anything and everything hot and new and throwing the way the rest. When it comes to online forums, I believe the baby has been thrown away with the bath water. But isn’t any kind of money good? How do I know this?

25 B2B marketing thought leaders answer the question "What do you expect to B2B marketers to be doing more of or differently in 2016?" The results are amazing insights around content marketing, achieving business results, alignment, employee advocacy, new technologies, customer experience and more.